Scaramucci Out as Communications Director After Less Than a Week

WASHINGTON — After less than a week on the job, Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is out, the White House announced on Monday.

The sudden and unexpected departure is just the latest in a series of stunning staff shakeups in the administration, with new Chief of Staff John Kelly being sworn in on Monday morning, replacing Reince Priebus, who was pushed out last week.

With just six days on the job, Scaramucci is the shortest-serving communications director in White House history.

Scaramucci shocked political watchers last week when he unleashed a profane tirade against Priebus in an interview with The New Yorker. A source close to the White House told NBC at the time that some in Trump's orbit felt the expletive-filled rant "embarrassing" for the White House.

The president, who himself has been known for using vulgar language, "certainly felt that Anthony's comments were inappropriate for a person in that position," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Monday.

That structure now means that all White House staff — including son-in-law Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway — now report to Kelly, Sanders said, a sign of tighter organization and a chain of command not previously seen in this White House.

Scaramucci had a long-standing relationship with Trump before joining the administration, having been involved with Trump's 2016 campaign, and the transition to the White House, repeatedly reminding reporters of his loyalty to and "love" for the president.

On Sunday evening, Scaramucci told MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle that he believed his New Yorker interview was going to blow over and he downplayed conflicts of interest concerns about his still-not-sold investment firm, SkyBridge Capital, which he is trying to unload a Chinese company.

In a statement, the White House announced, "Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director" and cited the desire to "give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team."

"We wish him all the best," the statement concluded.

The White House said Scaramucci does not currently have any role in the administration, including at the Export-Import Bank, where he had been before moving to the White House staff.

Scaramucci did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump's White House has been plagued with chaos this summer, facing infighting within the West Wing and legislative failures on Capitol Hill.

But Trump batted back those criticisms Monday, tweeting that there is "no WH chaos!" Hours later, the president swore in his new chief of staff, praising him for a "spectacular job" done at the Department of Homeland Security and predicting he would be " one of the great" chiefs of staff in history.

While former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's resignation was tied to Scaramucci's hire, Spicer's future plans remain unclear. A "clean slate" was the same reason Spicer gave in explaining his resignation two weeks ago.

Spicer, asked multiple times by NBC what this latest shakeup meant for him, did not respond — only smiled and walked away.

Scaramucci's departure represents the third communications director lost by the Trump administration in six months. It is not yet known who will replace him.